August 5, 2025 • 40 mins
#586 In Today’s Episode of the podcast I chat with YOU as I answer the questions that matter most to photography beginners and enthusiasts who are eager to grow both technically and creatively.
This episode is all about addressing real-world challenges that come up when you’re starting or growing a photography practice. I share my personal experiences, insights, and favorite tips—especially about balancing a day job with a budding side hustle in photography. I open up about my own journey of building a wedding photography business and the practical strategies I used to manage my time, keep clients happy, and avoid burnout.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Starting a Photography Side Hustle & Workflow Automation - Raymond shares his early struggles balancing a day job with building a portrait and wedding photography business. He highlights the time-saving power of using tools like CloudSpot Studio for automating bookings, contracts, invoicing, and client communication. Key takeaway: automation prevents lost opportunities and allows photographers with limited time to provide a seamless client experience.
- Editing Style Evolution & Managing Creative Ruts - Addressing questions about losing confidence in editing style, Raymond emphasizes that evolving tastes are normal and even healthy. He encourages experimenting with new edits and using past work to develop a style that feels authentic. Takeaway: feedback is useful, but personal satisfaction with your work is crucial for creative fulfillment.
- Equipment Choices for Travel, Studio, & Technical Mastery - Through specific gear-related questions, Raymond discusses how to weigh camera options for travel and studio documentation, advocating for a minimalist approach while tailoring choices to the context and desired output. He also offers a deep dive into understanding depth of field and autofocus, demystifying how they interact to produce sharp images. Takeaway: deliberate gear selection and technical competence empower photographers to adapt to any shooting situation.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS
- Depth of Field (DoF): The range within a photo that appears acceptably sharp, determined by a combination of aperture, focal length, and subject distance. Raymond explains how understanding DoF helps photographers achieve their desired focus in different scenarios, especially when combined with autofocus settings.
DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- How might automating your business workflow free up time for more creative pursuits? What steps can you start implementing now?
- Have you recently felt dissatisfied with your editing style or creative output? What strategies could help you refresh your perspective?
- When preparing for a travel or studio shoot, how do you decide what gear is essential versus what might be excess baggage?
- In what ways has understanding (or misunderstanding) depth of field affected your photography?
Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com
Connect with Raymond!
- Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
- Get your Photo Questions Answered on the show - https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa
- Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
raymond-hatfield_2_07-09-20 (00:01):
You want to speed up the process and
make it as easy as possible forthem to give you their money and
their business.
So then they would sign thecontract, right?
Once that is signed, then theyget an invoice.
They just pay it and then it'sdone.
You can start like theseworkflows that automatically
start sending them more emails.
Automating out all of thesethings saved me so, so, so, so
(00:23):
much time so that I didn't haveto let the ball drop on
potential clients, because I wasworking my day job, the
conversation would automaticallystart because I had a
pre-written email go out.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and today we are doing our
monthly photo q and a episode.
(00:45):
This is your opportunity to askme any of your burning
photography questions, and Ianswer them here on the podcast
because guess what?
If you have a question aboutphotography, chances are.
A million other people have thesame question about photography.
Maybe they're stuck somewhere.
Maybe they're just looking forsome advice.
So I figure why not just answerthem here on the show to share
(01:06):
the information with you.
So if you have a burningphotography question, guess
what?
You can ask me by heading overto beginner photo pod.com/qa.
That's just two letters, qa, andyou can submit your question and
then who knows?
You might just get your questionanswered here on the podcast.
(01:27):
So again, if you've got aquestion, head over to beginner
photo pod.com/ QA.
All right.
With that, let's go ahead andget on into today's photo q and
a questions.
The first question that we gothere today comes from Steve.
Hey Steve.
Steve says, I'm starting myfirst steps into trying to make
a little money in photography, alittle side hustle.
(01:48):
I have a full-time job as atruck driver.
When you first started outearning money with photography,
do you have any tips or tricksthat you learned during those
hard few years?
My biggest issue is trying tobalance my day job with
photography.
All the backroom stuff.
The area of photography I'mstarting, my side hustle is with
(02:08):
portrait photography.
By the way, I've listened to alot of your podcasts and they
are great.
Hey, thanks Steve.
Appreciate that, man.
Yeah, I have a lot of tips andtricks, that I learned in those
first few hard years aboutbalancing a day job with
photography, as a truck driver.
you may remember, or know of thecompany, Sellon.
(02:29):
they were based here inIndianapolis.
That's who I worked for when Ifirst started my wedding
photography business.
And, I did have to manage theday job along with photography
as well for.
two years I believe.
And there were times where itwas really rough and
specifically it was the backend, right?
It was making sure that all thecommunications were taken care
(02:50):
of.
It was making sure that, thecontracts were done, the
invoices, the making sure thateverybody had all the
information for their shoot.
It was the marketing, it wasn'tthe shooting itself,'cause you
can't do both at the same time.
So it's like while you'reshooting, that's the easy part.
But things like scheduling, likethat sucked as well.
So first of all, I would applaudyou for, taking on both at this
(03:12):
time.
That's a smart move.
I've seen a number of peoplejust quit their day jobs and go
all in on photography andrealize, oh my goodness, this is
not as easy as just pressing abutton and collecting thousands
of dollars.
What do I do?
So the first thing that you needto take care of is obviously all
the administrative stuff.
And this is gonna sound like anad, it's gonna sound like a plug
(03:34):
well, honestly, like part of itis, but the other part is that
I've used it and I love it, andit's, it's cloud spot.
Taking care of all the thingslike, the scheduling, the
invoicing, the contracts, thecommunication, all of that.
Well, not the communication, ormaking sure that people have the
information that they need.
All of that can be done withinCloud Spot Studio.
(03:55):
So, just as an example.
I would have a client reach outto me and say, Hey, I want you
to shoot our engagement session.
that information of their name.
maybe where they were thinkingabout having it, what their
estimated budget was.
They would send in a lead, andthen all of that would be
captured.
From there, I would then, haveemail communication with them.
(04:18):
The first email that I sent outwould be the same for everybody
because the rate of peopleinquiring is much higher than
the rate of people who actuallybook.
So trying to save time there isimportant.
So I would have an autoresponderset up.
When somebody would inquireabout my services, they would
automatically get an email thatsays, Hey, Raymond, here, just
(04:38):
got your inquiry.
I'm really excited to get backto you.
In the meantime, here's somemore information that you may
want to know.
And it would include a littlePDF that I designed with things
like my price list with, ideasof where they could shoot with
some sample images, just so thatthey could get an idea of, What
it's like working with me andwhat it is that I can deliver.
(04:59):
And then, it would end with,something to the effect of like,
are you still interested inworking with me?
Once I would then get an emailback from them saying, yeah,
this all looks great.
Then I would give them apersonalized response, but if
they didn't respond back to thatemail, well then that's one less
email that has to waste my time.
(05:21):
And again, like I said, theamount of inquiries you get is
far greater than the amount ofjobs that you book, so that can
save a good amount of time.
Once they then responded back, Iwould have more information to
give them.
And again, that would prettymuch be a templated email.
From there, it would say like,great, if they didn't already
tell me, were you thinking aboutgetting married?
What is your date?
(05:41):
Things like that.
Once they would reply back tothat, I would then have more
information and say, great.
Now you know, this all looksfantastic.
Let's hop on a quick call sothat you can determine whether
or not I'm the rightphotographer for you, which also
was a phone call for me todetermine if they were the right
client for me.
We'd have a quick call.
Again, I just learned more aboutthem.
(06:03):
It's kind of just a vibe check,see if I think that we're gonna
get along.
And then from there, I would saylike, well, what do you guys
think?
Like, are you guys interested inworking together?
If they said yes, I'd be like,fantastic.
If they said, we need to thinkabout it, I'd be like,
fantastic.
I have a templated email forboth.
One of'em is a quote right onthe phone call.
We'd talk about the differentpricing options that I have.
(06:27):
They would usually choose one.
If not, I would send them allthree of my different packages
for them to choose.
But if they had picked one, Iwould send them a quote that
says, here's what it is that youchose, essentially, and here's
the price.
that would just go outautomatically and then they
would just view and accept thequote.
Once they accepted it, theywould then be given a contract
(06:49):
to sign again, all automaticallyCloudspot studio does all this.
The contract was pre-filled out.
With their information, theyalready gave me their name.
They gave me their wedding date.
They gave me the location ofthis place.
They chose a package.
All of this is in the contractand automatically, inputted
through Cloud Spot Studio.
whereas in the past.
(07:10):
I would have to like write thesethings out manually, create a
PDF, and I'm not even kidding.
When I first got into it, what Iwould do is I would write up
essentially A PDF.
It was a custom contract forevery single person.
I would print out two copies.
I don't even know if this islegal.
I would print out two copies,and then I would mail those two
copies to the couple.
I'd mail them in the mail.
(07:31):
In the mail, it would cost me adollar'cause it was so much
paper to send to each client.
I would have them sign bothcontracts and then they would
send me back one so that I hadthe contract and then they also
had the contract.
That's so inefficient.
That's so time consuming andcostly with the amount of
contracts that you gotta sendout.
So again, like having that alldigital is a huge time saver
(07:56):
because what you don't want isfor them to agree.
You send them the contract andthen they're like, oh, actually
I forgot that we have a friendwho does photography.
We don't want your services andthen not book you.
You want to speed up the processand make it as easy as possible
for them to give you their moneyand their business.
So then they would sign thecontract, right?
Again, through Cloud SpotStudio, they can do this.
Once that is signed, then theyget an invoice.
(08:20):
And the invoice is where theyget to pay the deposit.
From there, like the package isalready inputted, the payment
schedule is already in there.
They just pay it and then it'sdone.
From there, you can start likethese workflows that
automatically I.
Start sending them more emails.
If it's a wedding and it's along timeline out, they're gonna
get information.
What do we do if it rains onyour wedding day?
(08:41):
What are some things that youcan do with your photos?
Here are some tips for astress-free wedding day.
If it's a portrait session,maybe it's just some clothing
inspiration, right?
Outfit inspiration.
Here's how I'm gonna pose youto.
So get ready for things likethis and then 24 hours before
their portrait session, I wouldhave a reminder that says, Hey,
send them an email with thelocation.
(09:03):
Include a Google Maps screenshotof like exactly where you're
gonna meet them.
Include your phone number.
All of the relevant detailsmaybe does it cost to get into
wherever you're shooting?
Maybe it's a national park or a,a state park or something, and
then you go from there.
But like automating out all ofthese things saved me so, so,
so, so much time so that Ididn't have to let the ball drop
(09:28):
on potential clients, because Iwas working my day job, the
conversation would automaticallystart because I had a
pre-written email go out.
All of the work that I reallyhad to do was, if they responded
back to that first email was Iwould, you know, the email
template was pretty much done.
But I would just add thingslike, Hey, Sam and Alex or
(09:48):
whatever.
Like, sounds like you got agreat wedding planned.
This is gonna be awesome.
and then looking forward tohearing from you.
Like, those would really be theonly things that I would add
based on the information thatthey gave me.
And then just ensuring that itwould take a minimal amount of
my time was super important.
And having a strong CRMAcustomer relationship manager
(10:09):
like Cloud Spot studio was a waythat I was able to, get it done,
was able to kind of scale, thebusiness.
Quickly enough to where I couldleave my job at sellan and go
full time as a weddingphotographer.
And again, man, super, super,super helpful.
So, the biggest thing is keepingall the information together,
having it all in one place, notin a binder, not in multiple
(10:32):
different calendars on yourphone, in the paper, post-it
notes, but having it all in onelocation.
And again, cloud Spot Studiodoes that.
and.
I think that it's even includedin their free account.
Like you can have up to, I thinkthree projects going at one
time.
So like if you're just gettingstarted, you're dipping your
toes in, give it a shot.
(10:53):
You literally have nothing tolose.
And if you like the way it worksand you start getting more than
three clients at a time, thenyou can upgrade.
But I would highly suggest ifyou haven't tried it out already
to do so and you can even grabyour free account
over@deliverphotos.com.
Again, that's deliverphotos.com.
That felt like a big pitch.
And again, like.
In a way it is because I know ofthe service that I love and I'm
(11:15):
trying to share it with you.
But they also sponsor thepodcast, but they sponsor the
podcast because I believe inthem and they're great people,
people.
so we live in this weird timewhere like, that feels weird.
But honestly, no, I don't feelweird about it because.
I truly believe in the peoplebehind Cloud Bott, and I believe
in their product, and I knowthat it can be helpful
specifically in exactly whatyou're asking for here.
(11:36):
So there you go.
There's my recommendation.
Give it a shot and I hope thatyou enjoy and that it helps you
save time.
Okay, next question comes fromMelissa.
Melissa says, photography hasbeen an off and on hobby of mine
for about 10 years, mostlyshooting for friends and family.
I recently started taking onpaid sessions and felt confident
in my editing style that I haddeveloped.
(11:57):
But after working with severalclients, I'm finding that my
edits no longer feel quiteright.
Hmm.
even though the feedback fromothers has been really positive,
oh, I'm stuck.
Between wondering if I just needto tweak what I have or explore
an entirely new direction.
Have you ever experienced thiskind of creative disconnect, and
how would you suggest navigatingit?
(12:19):
Wow.
Great.
Very insightful question,Melissa.
And actually, yeah, I have, I'vebeen right where you are.
If I look at some of my earliestweddings, I no longer like them.
I do not like the editing thatwas done on those weddings.
Even though at the time Ithought that they looked
fantastic.
Today I can see, oh, this is notmy style.
(12:41):
So just to give you, an idea, Itwas, you know, the highlights
were too bright.
There wasn't a lot of contrast,there wasn't a lot of latitude,
so there was, it was heavyhighlights and heavy shadows,
but my shadows, I would lift theshadows a little bit.
So like they just looked muddy.
But my highlights were like toobright.
So it kind of had like thisweird zombie look to it, not
(13:04):
what you're going for when itcomes to love and getting
married and a wedding day.
You don't wanna look at yourphotos and think, wow, I look
like a zombie.
But that's what I did at thetime and I thought that it was
fricking awesome.
and then also my greens werelike this, neon fluorescent
green rather than more of anatural subdued minty green.
so.
(13:24):
Yeah, there came a point, andthis was probably two years into
being full-time that I thought,I don't love this.
I would look at the photos ofother wedding photographers who
were friends of mine, who Ilooked up to, who I admired.
And I thought, these photos lookmore polished.
They look more natural, theylook true to life.
(13:45):
They look timeless, and that iswhat I really want to go for.
And I think that in thebeginning I just wasn't exactly
sure what my voice was, what mystyle of photography was.
So I created something that Ithought looked interesting and I
liked it.
For a period of time, but when Irealized, oh wait, these are
really gonna look dated.
I wanted to change up my style.
(14:06):
Now, if you've been listening tothe podcast for a long time,
you'll know that I give away 52free Lightroom presets
over@freephotographypresets.com.
And guess what?
Those 52 Lightroom presets camefrom me trying to find a new
style of editing that I liked,that felt authentic to me, that
felt stylistic enough to feelcreative, but also not too heavy
(14:29):
handed.
And some of them really workedwell for what I wanted.
Some of them didn't work at all,but yet other people love this
image style.
So again, I compiled them allinto 52 presets.
But I finally found one that Iliked.
I still love to this day.
Now, over the years, I'vetweaked it a bit.
I've tweaked my shadows and myhighlights a bit to, again, be
(14:51):
more natural.
I've added a certain amount ofsharpness depending on the lens
that I use, so that they allmatch.
But overall, editing has stayedconsistent pretty much since
then.
But yeah, so to answer yourquestion, I have gone through
that and I think that the way toanswer it for yourself is if
you're getting good feedbackfrom the photos, I mean, here's
the thing, I was getting goodfeedback on my wedding photos as
(15:11):
well.
People said, thank you so much.
We love'em.
And I have to assume that thatmeans they like every aspect of
it, including the editing.
But if I wasn't happy with thephotos.
Genuinely, this wasn't justlike, I saw one video that was
like, Hey, you gotta do this toimprove your editing.
And I'm like, yeah, I gotta doit.
But like, I genuinely thought,oh man, there's things about my
editing that I don't like.
(15:32):
then yeah, then go ahead andtest it out, and use some of
your old sessions to test outnew things within your editing,
but try to find a photo that youdo like the editing on, and then
try to emulate that.
Try to see where the edit takesyou.
Is it in the color, is it inthe, the effects, like a
(15:54):
vignette or a de haze or,texture?
Is it in the exposure?
Is it in the highlights?
Is it in the shadows?
Like is it in the tone curve?
Where are the photos that youlike at when it comes to
editing?
And then try to find a way howyou can make that fit your
voice.
So that is how I would suggestnavigating this, experience that
(16:18):
you're going through right now.
Give it a shot.
But yeah, try something new forsure.
All right.
Next question comes from Brian.
Brian says, Hey, Raymond.
I'm going to Spain for twoweeks.
Oh, that's fun.
with a singer songwriter in thestudio.
Very cool.
I'm worried that I will overpack my gear, which I do.
I have three camera options,plus my iPhone.
(16:40):
A Sony a seven three with a 28to 70, and a flash an X 106 and
a Fujifilm XE three with a 27millimeter, a 35 millimeter and
a 50 to 300 millimeter lens witha flash.
I've traveled to Europe beforewith the XE three and 27 was
fine for that trip, but this oneis more studio oriented.
(17:02):
Yeah.
My question is what kind ofstudio are we talking about?
Are we talking about like arecording studio or like a photo
studio because that does kind ofchange things a bit.
But if you're saying, I'm goingwith a singer songwriter in the
studio.
I would imagine recordingstudio.
Okay, so I'm gonna go based onthat.
I've never been in a recordingstudio, but I've watched a bunch
(17:22):
of videos and stuff that are inrecording studios, from various
documentaries of like, musicalartists and stuff.
And what it looks like is thatit's very low light, and you
have to be quiet.
There's an amount of energy toit, but also the person is there
for work.
So you have to respect that.
Okay.
So if that's the case, if you'rein this situation where you kind
(17:43):
of have to be a fly on the wall,but still be able to create a
portrait, then yeah, your cameragear's definitely going to
matter.
And here's the thing.
Yeah, I'm looking at the gearsetup here.
It also depends on like wherethese photos are going.
Are these photos going, in apublication?
Are they gonna be used forpromotion?
(18:03):
Is it just yourself?
Let's assume that it's gonna beused for promotion.
I want to err on the side ofbringing the Fuji film cameras.
Yeah, because that's what I knowlove and I'm comfortable with.
I know that the ISO performanceon Sony cameras is phenomenal.
I know that the auto focus onSony cameras is phenomenal.
(18:24):
But I feel like having a largecamera like that can just kind
of change the dynamic, canchange the feel of being in the
studio.
From, again, what I've seen indocumentaries and stuff, this is
a place of like, you're tryingto get work done in a creative
sense, and you kind of have tobe in the zone.
(18:46):
So being taken out by adistraction could be a thing,
that you might have to consider.
Using a camera like the X 106 isa fantastic performing camera,
but you're limited by the focallength of just 35 millimeters or
23 millimeters rather on a cropsensor.
You have the XC three, which isan older camera, like the ISO
(19:10):
performance is not as good, butnow you have the flexibility of
different lenses.
Probably what I would do, I'massuming that the 35 millimeter
that you have for the XC threeis probably gonna be the F two
and not the 1.4 version.
I would bring the X 100 and Iwould bring the XE three with
the 35 millimeter lens.
That's what I would do.
I think that you're gonna needsomething wider than the 27.
(19:31):
So the 23 would be helpful onthe X 100, but I also think that
you're going to want to get moreportrait style or more of that
50 millimeter look with the 35millimeter Fuji lens.
And therefore that's what Ithink would probably be best
here.
That's probably what I would do.
I mean, even myself personally,I have an X Pro two and I also
(19:52):
have an XT four.
And oftentimes, I will bringboth if I know that the images
that I need to capture are,they're not just vacation
photos, but it's, it's for workor something.
And I'll do that because The XPro two is my favorite camera of
all time.
This is one of my favoritecameras of all time, and it does
(20:14):
really well with prime lenseslike the 27, like the 35, but it
handles like trash when it comesto using a Zoom lens, like my 55
to 200 or my, is it 16 to 55?
2.8 lens.
Why it feels like garbage.
I don't know, it just feelsawkward in the hands, like the
camera just wasn't made for thatlens.
(20:34):
But sometimes I need the 16 to55 and therefore.
It just feels better in my handswith the XT four.
So I will bring both, and itgives me that, that flexibility.
See your X 100 and your XC threeare great small cameras, but the
A seven three may be more of aworkhorse camera.
So I don't think that it'd be abad idea to bring two cameras.
(20:56):
But I don't think that you needto bring three.
I would say bring the X 100 forsure, and then either bring the
XE three with a 35 or bring theA seven three with the 28 to 70
zoom lens, and that is justgonna be a personal choice based
on what your style ofphotography is.
So there you go.
(21:17):
I, I don't know if I made thatmore complicated or if I helped
you out with that, but that'swhat I would do.
I would definitely bring the X100 and then make a decision
between the A seven three withthe zoom lens or the XC three,
with just the 35 and then youmake it work.
So Brian, I can't wait to seesome of these photos, from your
trip to Spain.
That's gonna be fun.
(21:37):
That's gonna be awesome.
And that is how I would approachit.
So I hope that helps, and again,can't wait to see those photos.
Alright, next question herecomes from Tom.
Tom says, I understand how focallength and aperture define depth
of field, and that means thatthings within the depth of field
should be in focus.
Yeah.
So what am I focusing on?
(21:58):
Does that mean that I should beable to turn off autofocus and
just use depth of field?
I feel like I'm missing howdepth of field and autofocus are
supposed to work together.
I just want to take goodpictures and have fun doing it.
Ah, okay.
Tom?
Yeah, really technical questionhere, and I think the breakdown
(22:18):
is.
Is that you think that autofocus and depth of field are two
separate things and that they'renot compatible with each other.
Okay, so, great question.
What am I focusing on?
You are focusing on yoursubject.
Whether you're using autofocusor not, you want your subject to
be in focus.
Right.
Let me take a step back.
(22:39):
In the film days, there was thisphrase, F eight and be there.
And what that means is that youset your aperture to F eight
because your aperture helpsdictate how much depth of field
you have.
Depth of field being how much infront of your camera, how close
and how far away is in anacceptable amount of focus.
(23:02):
When you're shooting at f say,1.4, your depth of field is
extremely thin.
It's narrow, it's a fewcentimeters at times.
If something's really close toyour camera.
Now, if something's far awayfrom your camera, It's much
greater because the otherelement of how much is in focus
is not only focal length andaperture, but also your
subject's distance to thecamera.
(23:25):
If your subject is really closeto the camera, your depth of
field is really thin.
If your subject is really faraway from the camera, it's
great.
So try to imagine this in yourhead for everybody who's really
confused right now.
There's an invisible wall infront of your camera, directly
in front of your camera.
You're looking at a flat wall.
It's invisible.
(23:46):
How thick that wall is, is yourdepth of field.
Everything within that invisiblewall is in focus.
Anything closer than thatinvisible wall is out of focus.
Anything further away from thatinvisible wall is out of focus.
At F1 0.4, this wall, thisinvisible wall of things that
(24:09):
are in focus may be just a fewcentimeters.
At F eight, it could be thisinvisible wall of things that
are in focus, could be a fewfeet thick.
And again, anything in front ofthis wall is outta focus.
Anything behind the wall is infocus, but anything that can fit
within this invisible wall is infocus.
So what are you focusing on?
(24:30):
You're focusing on whatever yoursubject is, and wherever it's,
if you're shooting a portrait,they may be pretty close to you.
If you're shooting a group ofpeople or a building or a
landscape, it may be furtheraway from you, but whatever that
distance is, however far awayyour subject is, that is what
you're focusing on.
So this term, F eight and B,there was a term that was
(24:53):
popular before auto focus was.
As prevalent as it is today, andwhere all the lenses were manual
focused lenses.
So let's say that you are a newsshooter or an event shooter.
You're taking photos of peopleand most of the time the people
who you're taking photos of arewithin somewhere about between
(25:14):
three and 10 feet away from you.
So what you would do is youwould set your aperture to F
eight.
And then on your lens on oldschool manual film lenses, you
would actually see a depth offield chart.
It would show you that if youset your focus to, I don't know,
a foot and a half or five feetin front of you, everything from
three feet to 10 feet would bein quote unquote acceptable
(25:38):
focus at F eight.
So by F eight and be there meantset your aperture to F eight and
then be where the action iswithin three to 10 feet.
And then you would never have toworry about focusing your lens
once you set it to that setting.
Now, if you took a photo, if youdidn't change your focus and
anything, you took a photo ofsomething further than 10 feet
away, they were gonna be outtafocus.
(25:59):
Or if somebody popped in frontof your lens and they were only
a foot and a half away, theyweren't gonna be in focus.
So then you would have to moveyourself and be really good at
judging those distances.
I would do this at weddingsbecause nine years ago the EX
Pro two had really good autofocus, but it really struggled
in low light and receptions arenotoriously low light.
(26:21):
It's a party, it's dark.
There's crazy like lasers andwild colored lights and stuff.
The camera's auto focus really,really, really struggles.
So what I would do is I wouldset my aperture to something
like F 5.6 or F eight, and thenI would set my focusing distance
to about five feet.
(26:42):
And then I knew that everythingbetween three feet and 10 feet
was gonna be in focus.
So if I were to go to take aphoto, I would make sure that I
was within three to 10 feet ofthat person, and then I could
just take the photo.
Auto focus off, no autofocusneeded.
And I knew that everythingwithin my depth of field from
three feet to 10 feet would bein focus.
(27:02):
So how did depth of field andauto focus work together?
Well, auto focus is not part ofthe equation when it comes to
depth of field, right?
It doesn't change your depth offield.
What changes your depth offield, your focal length, your
aperture, and your subjectsdistance to camera.
So if you have autofocus on onyour camera and you autofocus on
(27:24):
something that is a foot awayfrom you, well, your subject's
distance to camera is a footaway, and that number changes
your depth of field.
So maybe everything between 0.9and 1.3 feet in front of your
camera will be that invisiblewall of things that are in
focus.
(27:44):
But using your same settings, ifyou're focusing on something 12
feet away, well maybe everythingfrom your depth of field now
changes because your subject'sdistance to camera changes as
well.
So now that invisible wall mightgrow from something like, 0.9 to
0.1 or 0.1 0.3 feet away to nowthree feet to 45 feet.
(28:07):
So everything within three feetto 45 feet away is now in focus.
That becomes the size of theinvisible wall, simply because
your subject's distance, thecamera changed, and that's where
auto focus comes in.
Whatever you focus on becomesthe subject's distance to
camera.
Now for those of you listeningwho are like, wait, what is up
(28:28):
the field?
How do we figure this out?
How do we know how much is infront of our camera?
How far away things are?
How do we set our lens to aspecific distance?
Yeah, this doesn't happen asmuch as it did back in the day,
but there are plenty ofcalculators online called depth
of field calculators.
There's even an app.
I would say don't go too fardeep into this.
(28:49):
If you're shooting somethinglike film, if you're shooting
with a manual lens, if the sizeof the depth of field is
incredibly important.
Then yeah, look into thesethings.
But I also think that worryingabout depth of field is
something that somebody new tophotography doesn't have to
worry about right now.
(29:10):
It's like as a car example,learning how to heel, toe is not
something that you need tofigure out while you're taking
your driver's test, it'ssomething that you can figure
out, down the road when itbecomes important to your style
of driving, or in this casephotography.
If you're having issues wherecertain parts of your images are
(29:30):
in focus and other parts aren't.
You want both of them to be infocus, then start looking into
depth of field calculators.
But if you're at this pointwhere you're like, wait, I'm
taking photos that are fine.
I could be better at auto focusand stuff like that.
But generally, you're notthinking to yourself, why is
this focus all crazy on yourcamera?
(29:51):
Then don't worry about a depthof field calculator right now.
Focus on learning your autofocus system first.
There was a big, there was atechnical question.
There was a lot of invisiblesthat we talked about there.
There was a lot of numbers.
Hopefully I didn't lose you.
If you have to go back andlisten to it, do so, I will
think nothing less of you.
(30:11):
In fact, as I was saying it, Iwas trying to make sure that I
was wrapping my head around itso that I could accurately
describe it.
And it's, it can be hardsometimes.
That's why hosting a podcast canbe difficult where you're
talking about a visual mediumover audio.
So if none of that made senseand you're like, wow, there's
way over my head, don't worryabout it.
(30:32):
But if something I said in therewas like, wait a second.
Yeah, I've been in thatsituation.
I've wished that I could havedone this or wondered why that
happened.
Then maybe go ahead and lookinto it.
But it's not something that youhave to know before, even
considering calling yourself aphotographer.
So, Tom, I really hope that thatmade sense and that you're able
to pull something from that andthat that missing piece of how
(30:55):
depth of field and auto focuswork together has been given.
It now makes sense.
Whew.
Okay.
Last question here for today,and it comes from Jeremy, which
by the way, again, if you have aphotography question that you
want answered here on the show,don't hesitate.
Just head over to beginner photopod.com/qa to submit your
(31:15):
question.
And again, you might hear it onthe show.
Okay.
Last question here comes fromJeremy.
Jeremy says, I'm just curious ifyou have any tips to make a
shift to get out of aphotographic rut?
Ooh, do I?
I find myself beingwell-intentioned about making
time to take photos, even goingso far as to bring my gear with
me when I'm driving around forwork.
(31:37):
Great job, but I don't seem toallow myself the space to stop
for a few minutes if I seesomething interesting.
More often than not, the bagstays closed and no photos get
taken as I bustle along to mynext appointment.
Feel that,.
I want to make space for thiscreative outlet, but often end
up pushing it to the back burnerin lieu of whatever else is
(31:58):
clamoring for my attention.
Any pointers would be greatly,greatly appreciated.
Jeremy.
Yeah, Jeremy man.
So, I found myself in thissituation here too, especially
with young kids and a wife andjust family and, and household
activities.
It can be difficult to carve outtime for photography, like
(32:21):
specifically dedicated tophotography, and that is one of
the reasons why I stress somuch.
Like, Hey, just bring a camerawith you wherever you go,
because photography is lessabout one or two hours of
dedicated photography time perweek, and more about a few
pockets of a few minutes hereand there.
I truly believe that that is thefastest way to learn photography
(32:41):
and to become more creative inwhat it is that you capture and
how you see the world.
So first of all, kudos to youfor just doing that step.
99% of people listening rightnow.
As much as they've heard me sayit probably don't do that.
So, again, for you to have atleast brought the camera with
you places is a huge step in theright direction.
The other thing is, but I don'tseem to allow myself the space
(33:05):
to stop for a few minutes.
If I see something interesting.
You gotta change that.
That's it.
That's it.
So, I'll give you some insighton myself, is that I will often
drive for work as well.
And just for context, maybe oneday I will have, I'm not even
kidding, like eight hours worthof driving on top of the actual
(33:25):
job that I'm doing myself.
And I will bring my camera withme as well, and I have noticed
that, when I first brought mycamera with me to these, I
guess, work trips, you'd call'em, going to these different
facilities and whatnot.
If I just brought the camera, itwould just sit there in the
back.
But if I brought the camera andtold myself as I took off, Hey,
(33:48):
I'm going to look for anythinginteresting.
I'm going to be on the lookoutduring my drive for something
interesting.
I was in work mode.
Now I'm in photography modewhile I'm driving.
I'm simply going to look forinteresting things.
If I don't find anything.
Hey, that's fine.
I brought the camera with me.
And now I was more present andobserved the world around me.
(34:11):
That's great.
If I do find something, I'mgoing to allow myself five
minutes to just pull over, takea few photos, explore it for a
minute or two, and then that'sit.
If you take four photos, I mean,that's great.
It takes so much work to buildthe habit of just bringing the
(34:33):
camera with you, it takesimmensely more work to actually
pull over on the side of theroad to photograph a super old,
dilapidated fuel station thathas been abandoned for years.
Doing that however, is the onlyway that you can actually take
photos.
(34:53):
Bringing the camera is great.
But it's not till you get out ofthe car and take the photo that
it frankly, actually meansanything.
It sounds to me like you'recreating the environment for the
creative outlet, but you'reletting, as you said, other
things that are clamoring foryour attention.
(35:14):
Steal the time for that creativeoutlet.
You gotta work on making thatshift.
I get that sometimes you'regonna be in a rush.
You gotta get from place toplace to place as fast as you
can.
Some days taking photos isn'tgonna happen.
That's fine.
In fact, I would say more oftenthan not, that's gonna happen,
but allowing yourself, puttingyourself in that mode, in that
(35:38):
mental mode of, I'm gonna lookat the world around me and if I
see something interesting, I'mgonna allow myself just a few
minutes to get out, take a fewphotos, and get back in the car.
That that is that next step.
That is where you go from beingquote unquote well intentioned
about taking, making time totake photos to actually bringing
(36:02):
this creative outlet to life.
Don't just drive from place toplace.
Do your job at the place, andthen think of the journey as a
photo hunt.
And in the same way that youknow, I don't know if you're
into fishing or birding orwhatever.
Some days you go out and you getnothing.
That's gonna happen.
Don't expect that just becauseyou have a camera, you're gonna
(36:23):
create things all the time,every day.
But you can't catch a fishunless you throw the rod in the
water, no, you don't wanna throwthe rod in the water.
You want to keep the rod on inyour hands.
You wanna throw the lure in thewater.
You can't catch a fish unlessyou cast a line into the water.
There you go.
Keep the rod in your hands.
Don't throw a camera at an olddilapidated film or, uh, fuel
(36:48):
station.
That's also a bad idea.
Keep the camera in your hand.
Keep the rod in your hand whenyou're fishing.
And there you go.
And I also think that knowingthat photography is a long game
is helpful.
Every drive that you have, don'texpect to get some banger of an
image.
It's a long game, man.
got years to do this.
If you get like one great photoa month, guess what man?
(37:10):
At the end of like, two or threeyears, you got a bunch of great
photos.
But on top of those greatphotos, you also have a lot of
just personal time of beingpresent, of looking at the world
differently, of getting out, oftaking a deep breath, of being
in nature, fresh air, unlessyou're at an old, dilapidated
fuel station, in which case youprobably shouldn't be breathing
(37:31):
in that air.
But the point is you're nottaking photos for today, you're
not taking photos to amass asmany photos as you can in a
week.
You're taking photos for it tobe a part of your life, to
enhance your life.
Don't steal that from yourself.
Do allow yourself the space tostop for a few minutes if you
(37:54):
see something interesting.
It's just a few minutes, and Ipromise.
Whatever your next appointmentis, I won't.
I won't tell them.
In fact, you can tell'em thatthere was just a lot of red
lights, you know, whatever.
Traffic was bad.
You're not spending two hoursout there wasting their time.
It's five minutes.
Five minutes.
That is gonna feel like the mostamazing breath of fresh air.
A reset for your mental energy,for your cognitive ability, and
(38:18):
to be able to perform youractual job even better'cause now
you don't have this weight of,man, I didn't see anything on
the way over here.
Oh, now I gotta get back to myjob.
Things like that.
So Jeremy, just do it, man.
Allow yourself the space to stopfor a few minutes.
If you see somethinginteresting, you gotta do it.
It's good for your camera, it'sgood for your health, it's good
(38:39):
for your soul.
It's good for your job.
I hope you do it, Jeremy.
I really do.
And if you do send me some morephotos.
I like the ones that youincluded in the email.
So that is it.
That is all that I got for youtoday.
Remember, if you got any burningquestions, feel free to submit
them over@beginnerphotopod.comslash qa.
(38:59):
There you go.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, thebetter of a photographer you
want to be, requires you to takemore photos.
I really got that backwards.
Wow.
Total mental hiccup there.
The more photos you take today,the better of a photographer
you'll be tomorrow.
Talk soon
You want to speed up the process and
make it as easy as possible forthem to give you their money and
their business.
So then they would sign thecontract, right?
Once that is signed, then theyget an invoice.
They just pay it and then it'sdone.
You can start like theseworkflows that automatically
start sending them more emails.
Automating out all of thesethings saved me so, so, so, so
(00:23):
much time so that I didn't haveto let the ball drop on
potential clients, because I wasworking my day job, the
conversation would automaticallystart because I had a
pre-written email go out.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and today we are doing our
monthly photo q and a episode.
(00:45):
This is your opportunity to askme any of your burning
photography questions, and Ianswer them here on the podcast
because guess what?
If you have a question aboutphotography, chances are.
A million other people have thesame question about photography.
Maybe they're stuck somewhere.
Maybe they're just looking forsome advice.
So I figure why not just answerthem here on the show to share
(01:06):
the information with you.
So if you have a burningphotography question, guess
what?
You can ask me by heading overto beginner photo pod.com/qa.
That's just two letters, qa, andyou can submit your question and
then who knows?
You might just get your questionanswered here on the podcast.
(01:27):
So again, if you've got aquestion, head over to beginner
photo pod.com/ QA.
All right.
With that, let's go ahead andget on into today's photo q and
a questions.
The first question that we gothere today comes from Steve.
Hey Steve.
Steve says, I'm starting myfirst steps into trying to make
a little money in photography, alittle side hustle.
(01:48):
I have a full-time job as atruck driver.
When you first started outearning money with photography,
do you have any tips or tricksthat you learned during those
hard few years?
My biggest issue is trying tobalance my day job with
photography.
All the backroom stuff.
The area of photography I'mstarting, my side hustle is with
(02:08):
portrait photography.
By the way, I've listened to alot of your podcasts and they
are great.
Hey, thanks Steve.
Appreciate that, man.
Yeah, I have a lot of tips andtricks, that I learned in those
first few hard years aboutbalancing a day job with
photography, as a truck driver.
you may remember, or know of thecompany, Sellon.
(02:29):
they were based here inIndianapolis.
That's who I worked for when Ifirst started my wedding
photography business.
And, I did have to manage theday job along with photography
as well for.
two years I believe.
And there were times where itwas really rough and
specifically it was the backend, right?
It was making sure that all thecommunications were taken care
(02:50):
of.
It was making sure that, thecontracts were done, the
invoices, the making sure thateverybody had all the
information for their shoot.
It was the marketing, it wasn'tthe shooting itself,'cause you
can't do both at the same time.
So it's like while you'reshooting, that's the easy part.
But things like scheduling, likethat sucked as well.
So first of all, I would applaudyou for, taking on both at this
(03:12):
time.
That's a smart move.
I've seen a number of peoplejust quit their day jobs and go
all in on photography andrealize, oh my goodness, this is
not as easy as just pressing abutton and collecting thousands
of dollars.
What do I do?
So the first thing that you needto take care of is obviously all
the administrative stuff.
And this is gonna sound like anad, it's gonna sound like a plug
(03:34):
well, honestly, like part of itis, but the other part is that
I've used it and I love it, andit's, it's cloud spot.
Taking care of all the thingslike, the scheduling, the
invoicing, the contracts, thecommunication, all of that.
Well, not the communication, ormaking sure that people have the
information that they need.
All of that can be done withinCloud Spot Studio.
(03:55):
So, just as an example.
I would have a client reach outto me and say, Hey, I want you
to shoot our engagement session.
that information of their name.
maybe where they were thinkingabout having it, what their
estimated budget was.
They would send in a lead, andthen all of that would be
captured.
From there, I would then, haveemail communication with them.
(04:18):
The first email that I sent outwould be the same for everybody
because the rate of peopleinquiring is much higher than
the rate of people who actuallybook.
So trying to save time there isimportant.
So I would have an autoresponderset up.
When somebody would inquireabout my services, they would
automatically get an email thatsays, Hey, Raymond, here, just
(04:38):
got your inquiry.
I'm really excited to get backto you.
In the meantime, here's somemore information that you may
want to know.
And it would include a littlePDF that I designed with things
like my price list with, ideasof where they could shoot with
some sample images, just so thatthey could get an idea of, What
it's like working with me andwhat it is that I can deliver.
(04:59):
And then, it would end with,something to the effect of like,
are you still interested inworking with me?
Once I would then get an emailback from them saying, yeah,
this all looks great.
Then I would give them apersonalized response, but if
they didn't respond back to thatemail, well then that's one less
email that has to waste my time.
(05:21):
And again, like I said, theamount of inquiries you get is
far greater than the amount ofjobs that you book, so that can
save a good amount of time.
Once they then responded back, Iwould have more information to
give them.
And again, that would prettymuch be a templated email.
From there, it would say like,great, if they didn't already
tell me, were you thinking aboutgetting married?
What is your date?
(05:41):
Things like that.
Once they would reply back tothat, I would then have more
information and say, great.
Now you know, this all looksfantastic.
Let's hop on a quick call sothat you can determine whether
or not I'm the rightphotographer for you, which also
was a phone call for me todetermine if they were the right
client for me.
We'd have a quick call.
Again, I just learned more aboutthem.
(06:03):
It's kind of just a vibe check,see if I think that we're gonna
get along.
And then from there, I would saylike, well, what do you guys
think?
Like, are you guys interested inworking together?
If they said yes, I'd be like,fantastic.
If they said, we need to thinkabout it, I'd be like,
fantastic.
I have a templated email forboth.
One of'em is a quote right onthe phone call.
We'd talk about the differentpricing options that I have.
(06:27):
They would usually choose one.
If not, I would send them allthree of my different packages
for them to choose.
But if they had picked one, Iwould send them a quote that
says, here's what it is that youchose, essentially, and here's
the price.
that would just go outautomatically and then they
would just view and accept thequote.
Once they accepted it, theywould then be given a contract
(06:49):
to sign again, all automaticallyCloudspot studio does all this.
The contract was pre-filled out.
With their information, theyalready gave me their name.
They gave me their wedding date.
They gave me the location ofthis place.
They chose a package.
All of this is in the contractand automatically, inputted
through Cloud Spot Studio.
whereas in the past.
(07:10):
I would have to like write thesethings out manually, create a
PDF, and I'm not even kidding.
When I first got into it, what Iwould do is I would write up
essentially A PDF.
It was a custom contract forevery single person.
I would print out two copies.
I don't even know if this islegal.
I would print out two copies,and then I would mail those two
copies to the couple.
I'd mail them in the mail.
(07:31):
In the mail, it would cost me adollar'cause it was so much
paper to send to each client.
I would have them sign bothcontracts and then they would
send me back one so that I hadthe contract and then they also
had the contract.
That's so inefficient.
That's so time consuming andcostly with the amount of
contracts that you gotta sendout.
So again, like having that alldigital is a huge time saver
(07:56):
because what you don't want isfor them to agree.
You send them the contract andthen they're like, oh, actually
I forgot that we have a friendwho does photography.
We don't want your services andthen not book you.
You want to speed up the processand make it as easy as possible
for them to give you their moneyand their business.
So then they would sign thecontract, right?
Again, through Cloud SpotStudio, they can do this.
Once that is signed, then theyget an invoice.
(08:20):
And the invoice is where theyget to pay the deposit.
From there, like the package isalready inputted, the payment
schedule is already in there.
They just pay it and then it'sdone.
From there, you can start likethese workflows that
automatically I.
Start sending them more emails.
If it's a wedding and it's along timeline out, they're gonna
get information.
What do we do if it rains onyour wedding day?
(08:41):
What are some things that youcan do with your photos?
Here are some tips for astress-free wedding day.
If it's a portrait session,maybe it's just some clothing
inspiration, right?
Outfit inspiration.
Here's how I'm gonna pose youto.
So get ready for things likethis and then 24 hours before
their portrait session, I wouldhave a reminder that says, Hey,
send them an email with thelocation.
(09:03):
Include a Google Maps screenshotof like exactly where you're
gonna meet them.
Include your phone number.
All of the relevant detailsmaybe does it cost to get into
wherever you're shooting?
Maybe it's a national park or a,a state park or something, and
then you go from there.
But like automating out all ofthese things saved me so, so,
so, so much time so that Ididn't have to let the ball drop
(09:28):
on potential clients, because Iwas working my day job, the
conversation would automaticallystart because I had a
pre-written email go out.
All of the work that I reallyhad to do was, if they responded
back to that first email was Iwould, you know, the email
template was pretty much done.
But I would just add thingslike, Hey, Sam and Alex or
(09:48):
whatever.
Like, sounds like you got agreat wedding planned.
This is gonna be awesome.
and then looking forward tohearing from you.
Like, those would really be theonly things that I would add
based on the information thatthey gave me.
And then just ensuring that itwould take a minimal amount of
my time was super important.
And having a strong CRMAcustomer relationship manager
(10:09):
like Cloud Spot studio was a waythat I was able to, get it done,
was able to kind of scale, thebusiness.
Quickly enough to where I couldleave my job at sellan and go
full time as a weddingphotographer.
And again, man, super, super,super helpful.
So, the biggest thing is keepingall the information together,
having it all in one place, notin a binder, not in multiple
(10:32):
different calendars on yourphone, in the paper, post-it
notes, but having it all in onelocation.
And again, cloud Spot Studiodoes that.
and.
I think that it's even includedin their free account.
Like you can have up to, I thinkthree projects going at one
time.
So like if you're just gettingstarted, you're dipping your
toes in, give it a shot.
(10:53):
You literally have nothing tolose.
And if you like the way it worksand you start getting more than
three clients at a time, thenyou can upgrade.
But I would highly suggest ifyou haven't tried it out already
to do so and you can even grabyour free account
over@deliverphotos.com.
Again, that's deliverphotos.com.
That felt like a big pitch.
And again, like.
In a way it is because I know ofthe service that I love and I'm
(11:15):
trying to share it with you.
But they also sponsor thepodcast, but they sponsor the
podcast because I believe inthem and they're great people,
people.
so we live in this weird timewhere like, that feels weird.
But honestly, no, I don't feelweird about it because.
I truly believe in the peoplebehind Cloud Bott, and I believe
in their product, and I knowthat it can be helpful
specifically in exactly whatyou're asking for here.
(11:36):
So there you go.
There's my recommendation.
Give it a shot and I hope thatyou enjoy and that it helps you
save time.
Okay, next question comes fromMelissa.
Melissa says, photography hasbeen an off and on hobby of mine
for about 10 years, mostlyshooting for friends and family.
I recently started taking onpaid sessions and felt confident
in my editing style that I haddeveloped.
(11:57):
But after working with severalclients, I'm finding that my
edits no longer feel quiteright.
Hmm.
even though the feedback fromothers has been really positive,
oh, I'm stuck.
Between wondering if I just needto tweak what I have or explore
an entirely new direction.
Have you ever experienced thiskind of creative disconnect, and
how would you suggest navigatingit?
(12:19):
Wow.
Great.
Very insightful question,Melissa.
And actually, yeah, I have, I'vebeen right where you are.
If I look at some of my earliestweddings, I no longer like them.
I do not like the editing thatwas done on those weddings.
Even though at the time Ithought that they looked
fantastic.
Today I can see, oh, this is notmy style.
(12:41):
So just to give you, an idea, Itwas, you know, the highlights
were too bright.
There wasn't a lot of contrast,there wasn't a lot of latitude,
so there was, it was heavyhighlights and heavy shadows,
but my shadows, I would lift theshadows a little bit.
So like they just looked muddy.
But my highlights were like toobright.
So it kind of had like thisweird zombie look to it, not
(13:04):
what you're going for when itcomes to love and getting
married and a wedding day.
You don't wanna look at yourphotos and think, wow, I look
like a zombie.
But that's what I did at thetime and I thought that it was
fricking awesome.
and then also my greens werelike this, neon fluorescent
green rather than more of anatural subdued minty green.
so.
(13:24):
Yeah, there came a point, andthis was probably two years into
being full-time that I thought,I don't love this.
I would look at the photos ofother wedding photographers who
were friends of mine, who Ilooked up to, who I admired.
And I thought, these photos lookmore polished.
They look more natural, theylook true to life.
(13:45):
They look timeless, and that iswhat I really want to go for.
And I think that in thebeginning I just wasn't exactly
sure what my voice was, what mystyle of photography was.
So I created something that Ithought looked interesting and I
liked it.
For a period of time, but when Irealized, oh wait, these are
really gonna look dated.
I wanted to change up my style.
(14:06):
Now, if you've been listening tothe podcast for a long time,
you'll know that I give away 52free Lightroom presets
over@freephotographypresets.com.
And guess what?
Those 52 Lightroom presets camefrom me trying to find a new
style of editing that I liked,that felt authentic to me, that
felt stylistic enough to feelcreative, but also not too heavy
(14:29):
handed.
And some of them really workedwell for what I wanted.
Some of them didn't work at all,but yet other people love this
image style.
So again, I compiled them allinto 52 presets.
But I finally found one that Iliked.
I still love to this day.
Now, over the years, I'vetweaked it a bit.
I've tweaked my shadows and myhighlights a bit to, again, be
(14:51):
more natural.
I've added a certain amount ofsharpness depending on the lens
that I use, so that they allmatch.
But overall, editing has stayedconsistent pretty much since
then.
But yeah, so to answer yourquestion, I have gone through
that and I think that the way toanswer it for yourself is if
you're getting good feedbackfrom the photos, I mean, here's
the thing, I was getting goodfeedback on my wedding photos as
(15:11):
well.
People said, thank you so much.
We love'em.
And I have to assume that thatmeans they like every aspect of
it, including the editing.
But if I wasn't happy with thephotos.
Genuinely, this wasn't justlike, I saw one video that was
like, Hey, you gotta do this toimprove your editing.
And I'm like, yeah, I gotta doit.
But like, I genuinely thought,oh man, there's things about my
editing that I don't like.
(15:32):
then yeah, then go ahead andtest it out, and use some of
your old sessions to test outnew things within your editing,
but try to find a photo that youdo like the editing on, and then
try to emulate that.
Try to see where the edit takesyou.
Is it in the color, is it inthe, the effects, like a
(15:54):
vignette or a de haze or,texture?
Is it in the exposure?
Is it in the highlights?
Is it in the shadows?
Like is it in the tone curve?
Where are the photos that youlike at when it comes to
editing?
And then try to find a way howyou can make that fit your
voice.
So that is how I would suggestnavigating this, experience that
(16:18):
you're going through right now.
Give it a shot.
But yeah, try something new forsure.
All right.
Next question comes from Brian.
Brian says, Hey, Raymond.
I'm going to Spain for twoweeks.
Oh, that's fun.
with a singer songwriter in thestudio.
Very cool.
I'm worried that I will overpack my gear, which I do.
I have three camera options,plus my iPhone.
(16:40):
A Sony a seven three with a 28to 70, and a flash an X 106 and
a Fujifilm XE three with a 27millimeter, a 35 millimeter and
a 50 to 300 millimeter lens witha flash.
I've traveled to Europe beforewith the XE three and 27 was
fine for that trip, but this oneis more studio oriented.
(17:02):
Yeah.
My question is what kind ofstudio are we talking about?
Are we talking about like arecording studio or like a photo
studio because that does kind ofchange things a bit.
But if you're saying, I'm goingwith a singer songwriter in the
studio.
I would imagine recordingstudio.
Okay, so I'm gonna go based onthat.
I've never been in a recordingstudio, but I've watched a bunch
(17:22):
of videos and stuff that are inrecording studios, from various
documentaries of like, musicalartists and stuff.
And what it looks like is thatit's very low light, and you
have to be quiet.
There's an amount of energy toit, but also the person is there
for work.
So you have to respect that.
Okay.
So if that's the case, if you'rein this situation where you kind
(17:43):
of have to be a fly on the wall,but still be able to create a
portrait, then yeah, your cameragear's definitely going to
matter.
And here's the thing.
Yeah, I'm looking at the gearsetup here.
It also depends on like wherethese photos are going.
Are these photos going, in apublication?
Are they gonna be used forpromotion?
(18:03):
Is it just yourself?
Let's assume that it's gonna beused for promotion.
I want to err on the side ofbringing the Fuji film cameras.
Yeah, because that's what I knowlove and I'm comfortable with.
I know that the ISO performanceon Sony cameras is phenomenal.
I know that the auto focus onSony cameras is phenomenal.
(18:24):
But I feel like having a largecamera like that can just kind
of change the dynamic, canchange the feel of being in the
studio.
From, again, what I've seen indocumentaries and stuff, this is
a place of like, you're tryingto get work done in a creative
sense, and you kind of have tobe in the zone.
(18:46):
So being taken out by adistraction could be a thing,
that you might have to consider.
Using a camera like the X 106 isa fantastic performing camera,
but you're limited by the focallength of just 35 millimeters or
23 millimeters rather on a cropsensor.
You have the XC three, which isan older camera, like the ISO
(19:10):
performance is not as good, butnow you have the flexibility of
different lenses.
Probably what I would do, I'massuming that the 35 millimeter
that you have for the XC threeis probably gonna be the F two
and not the 1.4 version.
I would bring the X 100 and Iwould bring the XE three with
the 35 millimeter lens.
That's what I would do.
I think that you're gonna needsomething wider than the 27.
(19:31):
So the 23 would be helpful onthe X 100, but I also think that
you're going to want to get moreportrait style or more of that
50 millimeter look with the 35millimeter Fuji lens.
And therefore that's what Ithink would probably be best
here.
That's probably what I would do.
I mean, even myself personally,I have an X Pro two and I also
(19:52):
have an XT four.
And oftentimes, I will bringboth if I know that the images
that I need to capture are,they're not just vacation
photos, but it's, it's for workor something.
And I'll do that because The XPro two is my favorite camera of
all time.
This is one of my favoritecameras of all time, and it does
(20:14):
really well with prime lenseslike the 27, like the 35, but it
handles like trash when it comesto using a Zoom lens, like my 55
to 200 or my, is it 16 to 55?
2.8 lens.
Why it feels like garbage.
I don't know, it just feelsawkward in the hands, like the
camera just wasn't made for thatlens.
(20:34):
But sometimes I need the 16 to55 and therefore.
It just feels better in my handswith the XT four.
So I will bring both, and itgives me that, that flexibility.
See your X 100 and your XC threeare great small cameras, but the
A seven three may be more of aworkhorse camera.
So I don't think that it'd be abad idea to bring two cameras.
(20:56):
But I don't think that you needto bring three.
I would say bring the X 100 forsure, and then either bring the
XE three with a 35 or bring theA seven three with the 28 to 70
zoom lens, and that is justgonna be a personal choice based
on what your style ofphotography is.
So there you go.
(21:17):
I, I don't know if I made thatmore complicated or if I helped
you out with that, but that'swhat I would do.
I would definitely bring the X100 and then make a decision
between the A seven three withthe zoom lens or the XC three,
with just the 35 and then youmake it work.
So Brian, I can't wait to seesome of these photos, from your
trip to Spain.
That's gonna be fun.
(21:37):
That's gonna be awesome.
And that is how I would approachit.
So I hope that helps, and again,can't wait to see those photos.
Alright, next question herecomes from Tom.
Tom says, I understand how focallength and aperture define depth
of field, and that means thatthings within the depth of field
should be in focus.
Yeah.
So what am I focusing on?
(21:58):
Does that mean that I should beable to turn off autofocus and
just use depth of field?
I feel like I'm missing howdepth of field and autofocus are
supposed to work together.
I just want to take goodpictures and have fun doing it.
Ah, okay.
Tom?
Yeah, really technical questionhere, and I think the breakdown
(22:18):
is.
Is that you think that autofocus and depth of field are two
separate things and that they'renot compatible with each other.
Okay, so, great question.
What am I focusing on?
You are focusing on yoursubject.
Whether you're using autofocusor not, you want your subject to
be in focus.
Right.
Let me take a step back.
(22:39):
In the film days, there was thisphrase, F eight and be there.
And what that means is that youset your aperture to F eight
because your aperture helpsdictate how much depth of field
you have.
Depth of field being how much infront of your camera, how close
and how far away is in anacceptable amount of focus.
(23:02):
When you're shooting at f say,1.4, your depth of field is
extremely thin.
It's narrow, it's a fewcentimeters at times.
If something's really close toyour camera.
Now, if something's far awayfrom your camera, It's much
greater because the otherelement of how much is in focus
is not only focal length andaperture, but also your
subject's distance to thecamera.
(23:25):
If your subject is really closeto the camera, your depth of
field is really thin.
If your subject is really faraway from the camera, it's
great.
So try to imagine this in yourhead for everybody who's really
confused right now.
There's an invisible wall infront of your camera, directly
in front of your camera.
You're looking at a flat wall.
It's invisible.
(23:46):
How thick that wall is, is yourdepth of field.
Everything within that invisiblewall is in focus.
Anything closer than thatinvisible wall is out of focus.
Anything further away from thatinvisible wall is out of focus.
At F1 0.4, this wall, thisinvisible wall of things that
(24:09):
are in focus may be just a fewcentimeters.
At F eight, it could be thisinvisible wall of things that
are in focus, could be a fewfeet thick.
And again, anything in front ofthis wall is outta focus.
Anything behind the wall is infocus, but anything that can fit
within this invisible wall is infocus.
So what are you focusing on?
(24:30):
You're focusing on whatever yoursubject is, and wherever it's,
if you're shooting a portrait,they may be pretty close to you.
If you're shooting a group ofpeople or a building or a
landscape, it may be furtheraway from you, but whatever that
distance is, however far awayyour subject is, that is what
you're focusing on.
So this term, F eight and B,there was a term that was
(24:53):
popular before auto focus was.
As prevalent as it is today, andwhere all the lenses were manual
focused lenses.
So let's say that you are a newsshooter or an event shooter.
You're taking photos of peopleand most of the time the people
who you're taking photos of arewithin somewhere about between
(25:14):
three and 10 feet away from you.
So what you would do is youwould set your aperture to F
eight.
And then on your lens on oldschool manual film lenses, you
would actually see a depth offield chart.
It would show you that if youset your focus to, I don't know,
a foot and a half or five feetin front of you, everything from
three feet to 10 feet would bein quote unquote acceptable
(25:38):
focus at F eight.
So by F eight and be there meantset your aperture to F eight and
then be where the action iswithin three to 10 feet.
And then you would never have toworry about focusing your lens
once you set it to that setting.
Now, if you took a photo, if youdidn't change your focus and
anything, you took a photo ofsomething further than 10 feet
away, they were gonna be outtafocus.
(25:59):
Or if somebody popped in frontof your lens and they were only
a foot and a half away, theyweren't gonna be in focus.
So then you would have to moveyourself and be really good at
judging those distances.
I would do this at weddingsbecause nine years ago the EX
Pro two had really good autofocus, but it really struggled
in low light and receptions arenotoriously low light.
(26:21):
It's a party, it's dark.
There's crazy like lasers andwild colored lights and stuff.
The camera's auto focus really,really, really struggles.
So what I would do is I wouldset my aperture to something
like F 5.6 or F eight, and thenI would set my focusing distance
to about five feet.
(26:42):
And then I knew that everythingbetween three feet and 10 feet
was gonna be in focus.
So if I were to go to take aphoto, I would make sure that I
was within three to 10 feet ofthat person, and then I could
just take the photo.
Auto focus off, no autofocusneeded.
And I knew that everythingwithin my depth of field from
three feet to 10 feet would bein focus.
(27:02):
So how did depth of field andauto focus work together?
Well, auto focus is not part ofthe equation when it comes to
depth of field, right?
It doesn't change your depth offield.
What changes your depth offield, your focal length, your
aperture, and your subjectsdistance to camera.
So if you have autofocus on onyour camera and you autofocus on
(27:24):
something that is a foot awayfrom you, well, your subject's
distance to camera is a footaway, and that number changes
your depth of field.
So maybe everything between 0.9and 1.3 feet in front of your
camera will be that invisiblewall of things that are in
focus.
(27:44):
But using your same settings, ifyou're focusing on something 12
feet away, well maybe everythingfrom your depth of field now
changes because your subject'sdistance to camera changes as
well.
So now that invisible wall mightgrow from something like, 0.9 to
0.1 or 0.1 0.3 feet away to nowthree feet to 45 feet.
(28:07):
So everything within three feetto 45 feet away is now in focus.
That becomes the size of theinvisible wall, simply because
your subject's distance, thecamera changed, and that's where
auto focus comes in.
Whatever you focus on becomesthe subject's distance to
camera.
Now for those of you listeningwho are like, wait, what is up
(28:28):
the field?
How do we figure this out?
How do we know how much is infront of our camera?
How far away things are?
How do we set our lens to aspecific distance?
Yeah, this doesn't happen asmuch as it did back in the day,
but there are plenty ofcalculators online called depth
of field calculators.
There's even an app.
I would say don't go too fardeep into this.
(28:49):
If you're shooting somethinglike film, if you're shooting
with a manual lens, if the sizeof the depth of field is
incredibly important.
Then yeah, look into thesethings.
But I also think that worryingabout depth of field is
something that somebody new tophotography doesn't have to
worry about right now.
(29:10):
It's like as a car example,learning how to heel, toe is not
something that you need tofigure out while you're taking
your driver's test, it'ssomething that you can figure
out, down the road when itbecomes important to your style
of driving, or in this casephotography.
If you're having issues wherecertain parts of your images are
(29:30):
in focus and other parts aren't.
You want both of them to be infocus, then start looking into
depth of field calculators.
But if you're at this pointwhere you're like, wait, I'm
taking photos that are fine.
I could be better at auto focusand stuff like that.
But generally, you're notthinking to yourself, why is
this focus all crazy on yourcamera?
(29:51):
Then don't worry about a depthof field calculator right now.
Focus on learning your autofocus system first.
There was a big, there was atechnical question.
There was a lot of invisiblesthat we talked about there.
There was a lot of numbers.
Hopefully I didn't lose you.
If you have to go back andlisten to it, do so, I will
think nothing less of you.
(30:11):
In fact, as I was saying it, Iwas trying to make sure that I
was wrapping my head around itso that I could accurately
describe it.
And it's, it can be hardsometimes.
That's why hosting a podcast canbe difficult where you're
talking about a visual mediumover audio.
So if none of that made senseand you're like, wow, there's
way over my head, don't worryabout it.
(30:32):
But if something I said in therewas like, wait a second.
Yeah, I've been in thatsituation.
I've wished that I could havedone this or wondered why that
happened.
Then maybe go ahead and lookinto it.
But it's not something that youhave to know before, even
considering calling yourself aphotographer.
So, Tom, I really hope that thatmade sense and that you're able
to pull something from that andthat that missing piece of how
(30:55):
depth of field and auto focuswork together has been given.
It now makes sense.
Whew.
Okay.
Last question here for today,and it comes from Jeremy, which
by the way, again, if you have aphotography question that you
want answered here on the show,don't hesitate.
Just head over to beginner photopod.com/qa to submit your
(31:15):
question.
And again, you might hear it onthe show.
Okay.
Last question here comes fromJeremy.
Jeremy says, I'm just curious ifyou have any tips to make a
shift to get out of aphotographic rut?
Ooh, do I?
I find myself beingwell-intentioned about making
time to take photos, even goingso far as to bring my gear with
me when I'm driving around forwork.
(31:37):
Great job, but I don't seem toallow myself the space to stop
for a few minutes if I seesomething interesting.
More often than not, the bagstays closed and no photos get
taken as I bustle along to mynext appointment.
Feel that,.
I want to make space for thiscreative outlet, but often end
up pushing it to the back burnerin lieu of whatever else is
(31:58):
clamoring for my attention.
Any pointers would be greatly,greatly appreciated.
Jeremy.
Yeah, Jeremy man.
So, I found myself in thissituation here too, especially
with young kids and a wife andjust family and, and household
activities.
It can be difficult to carve outtime for photography, like
(32:21):
specifically dedicated tophotography, and that is one of
the reasons why I stress somuch.
Like, Hey, just bring a camerawith you wherever you go,
because photography is lessabout one or two hours of
dedicated photography time perweek, and more about a few
pockets of a few minutes hereand there.
I truly believe that that is thefastest way to learn photography
(32:41):
and to become more creative inwhat it is that you capture and
how you see the world.
So first of all, kudos to youfor just doing that step.
99% of people listening rightnow.
As much as they've heard me sayit probably don't do that.
So, again, for you to have atleast brought the camera with
you places is a huge step in theright direction.
The other thing is, but I don'tseem to allow myself the space
(33:05):
to stop for a few minutes.
If I see something interesting.
You gotta change that.
That's it.
That's it.
So, I'll give you some insighton myself, is that I will often
drive for work as well.
And just for context, maybe oneday I will have, I'm not even
kidding, like eight hours worthof driving on top of the actual
(33:25):
job that I'm doing myself.
And I will bring my camera withme as well, and I have noticed
that, when I first brought mycamera with me to these, I
guess, work trips, you'd call'em, going to these different
facilities and whatnot.
If I just brought the camera, itwould just sit there in the
back.
But if I brought the camera andtold myself as I took off, Hey,
(33:48):
I'm going to look for anythinginteresting.
I'm going to be on the lookoutduring my drive for something
interesting.
I was in work mode.
Now I'm in photography modewhile I'm driving.
I'm simply going to look forinteresting things.
If I don't find anything.
Hey, that's fine.
I brought the camera with me.
And now I was more present andobserved the world around me.
(34:11):
That's great.
If I do find something, I'mgoing to allow myself five
minutes to just pull over, takea few photos, explore it for a
minute or two, and then that'sit.
If you take four photos, I mean,that's great.
It takes so much work to buildthe habit of just bringing the
(34:33):
camera with you, it takesimmensely more work to actually
pull over on the side of theroad to photograph a super old,
dilapidated fuel station thathas been abandoned for years.
Doing that however, is the onlyway that you can actually take
photos.
(34:53):
Bringing the camera is great.
But it's not till you get out ofthe car and take the photo that
it frankly, actually meansanything.
It sounds to me like you'recreating the environment for the
creative outlet, but you'reletting, as you said, other
things that are clamoring foryour attention.
(35:14):
Steal the time for that creativeoutlet.
You gotta work on making thatshift.
I get that sometimes you'regonna be in a rush.
You gotta get from place toplace to place as fast as you
can.
Some days taking photos isn'tgonna happen.
That's fine.
In fact, I would say more oftenthan not, that's gonna happen,
but allowing yourself, puttingyourself in that mode, in that
(35:38):
mental mode of, I'm gonna lookat the world around me and if I
see something interesting, I'mgonna allow myself just a few
minutes to get out, take a fewphotos, and get back in the car.
That that is that next step.
That is where you go from beingquote unquote well intentioned
about taking, making time totake photos to actually bringing
(36:02):
this creative outlet to life.
Don't just drive from place toplace.
Do your job at the place, andthen think of the journey as a
photo hunt.
And in the same way that youknow, I don't know if you're
into fishing or birding orwhatever.
Some days you go out and you getnothing.
That's gonna happen.
Don't expect that just becauseyou have a camera, you're gonna
(36:23):
create things all the time,every day.
But you can't catch a fishunless you throw the rod in the
water, no, you don't wanna throwthe rod in the water.
You want to keep the rod on inyour hands.
You wanna throw the lure in thewater.
You can't catch a fish unlessyou cast a line into the water.
There you go.
Keep the rod in your hands.
Don't throw a camera at an olddilapidated film or, uh, fuel
(36:48):
station.
That's also a bad idea.
Keep the camera in your hand.
Keep the rod in your hand whenyou're fishing.
And there you go.
And I also think that knowingthat photography is a long game
is helpful.
Every drive that you have, don'texpect to get some banger of an
image.
It's a long game, man.
got years to do this.
If you get like one great photoa month, guess what man?
(37:10):
At the end of like, two or threeyears, you got a bunch of great
photos.
But on top of those greatphotos, you also have a lot of
just personal time of beingpresent, of looking at the world
differently, of getting out, oftaking a deep breath, of being
in nature, fresh air, unlessyou're at an old, dilapidated
fuel station, in which case youprobably shouldn't be breathing
(37:31):
in that air.
But the point is you're nottaking photos for today, you're
not taking photos to amass asmany photos as you can in a
week.
You're taking photos for it tobe a part of your life, to
enhance your life.
Don't steal that from yourself.
Do allow yourself the space tostop for a few minutes if you
(37:54):
see something interesting.
It's just a few minutes, and Ipromise.
Whatever your next appointmentis, I won't.
I won't tell them.
In fact, you can tell'em thatthere was just a lot of red
lights, you know, whatever.
Traffic was bad.
You're not spending two hoursout there wasting their time.
It's five minutes.
Five minutes.
That is gonna feel like the mostamazing breath of fresh air.
A reset for your mental energy,for your cognitive ability, and
(38:18):
to be able to perform youractual job even better'cause now
you don't have this weight of,man, I didn't see anything on
the way over here.
Oh, now I gotta get back to myjob.
Things like that.
So Jeremy, just do it, man.
Allow yourself the space to stopfor a few minutes.
If you see somethinginteresting, you gotta do it.
It's good for your camera, it'sgood for your health, it's good
(38:39):
for your soul.
It's good for your job.
I hope you do it, Jeremy.
I really do.
And if you do send me some morephotos.
I like the ones that youincluded in the email.
So that is it.
That is all that I got for youtoday.
Remember, if you got any burningquestions, feel free to submit
them over@beginnerphotopod.comslash qa.
(38:59):
There you go.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, thebetter of a photographer you
want to be, requires you to takemore photos.
I really got that backwards.
Wow.
Total mental hiccup there.
The more photos you take today,the better of a photographer
you'll be tomorrow.
Talk soon
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